Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-03-12
HANGED BY A WOMAN
HOW LIrTL. sHRIE HIBLrcK NET
HER DEATH.
The Story Of q Five-Year.0ld Boy
A Girl Of Thirteea
strangled.
fphllndnlnhla Press.l

4
In "E" street, forked, narrow
thoroughiare that shoots northwesterly
from Kensington avenue away up town
in tie little two-story frame house nun
bered 29l1 yesterday afternoon,
Young girls life WAS taken. The only
witness, her little brother, mere pratt
ting child, sOys that she was murdered.
and by woman.
John Niblick, whose home is 29l1, is
q carronter, short and wiry, a man of
| perhaps forty years. Since his wife
died, nearly year ago, his family has
consisted Of his daughter Annie. pref
ty girl Of Thirteen years; his little son
| JohDhy, scarcely five; and Tot, the
baby, who can't walk yet, and was born
Just before Mrs. Niblick died.
John Liblick' daughter, Annie, since
the death of her mother, has been her
fathers little housekeeper. Yesterday
morning she arose in the best OF spirits,
| cooked breakfast for the little family,
and, after they had eaten, the father
said goodbye and went to work for the
day. 1t was the last time he saw Annie
alive.
At 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon he
was through work and started home.
He noticed when he turned into II
street from Kensington avenue that it
was $50 o'clock. his, house was just
half square away.
When John NIblick arrived at his
home he noticed that it was lonely and
| barred that none OF the children met
| him but he attributed it to the wea-
ther, and, running lightly up the wood
en- steps, turned the door-knob. The
door opened, ard in second, with
cry of horror, John Aiblick sprung out
into the street almost mailman. Reel
ing back to the steps, he climbed them
slowly, almost afraid TO look inside
again, for what had terrified him was
hideous vision that he afterwards said
he thought must be dream.
He entered the second time, but in a
moment be was again on the street cry
ing wildly: " Helpneighbors, for Gods
sake help"
Several people ran to him and with
him into the house. The front door
opens in the parlor Immediately back
Of the kitchen. Between the rooms is
little passageway three feet wide at
the foot of stairway, hanging in this
passageway, by cord from hook IN
the moulding OF the kitchen-door, was
the body of Annie Niblick, cold and
dead, with the eyes protruding and
staring. An expression of horror was
on her face, no longer pretty, but swol-
len and livid. An upset chair lay
few feet away, and over i'll corner OF
the parlor covered johnny and Tot,
keeping vigil in the presence OF the
awful spectacle.
The LIVING CHLD's STORY.
Those who had come in quickly cut
the frail body down and laid it gently
on a lounge in the presence of the fren-
zied father. Suicide, they all thought
and whispered; but John Niblick turn
ed to the little boy, whose eyes were
red with weeping, and said Johnny,
tell papa ali about it how did this
happen ?"
II called Annie and she wouldn't
answer" ne said, almost in "A whisper.
"Did you see sister do it ?"
"She didn't" he said. "Me saw
Miss McClennon and Florrie. They
put the string over Armies head. made
her get on the chair, and pulled it away
from her."
The child's accusation came like a
tbunderbolt. "Miss McClonnon, they
all knew, was Katie McClennon, who
used to be a neighbor in cottage across
the street, but who, it is alleged, had
been "going to the bad" Of late and
was living away from her husband down
on Jasper street. Florrie, her daugh-
ter, was poor Annie's playmate, and
just her age.
Officers John Wilsonand Edwards, of
the Twenty-fourth district, were the
first to reach the house. They came
with the undertaken, who bathed the
dead girls face in alcohol and laid her
body in casket at the front window OF
the parlor.
John Niblick, white with fury and
tortured with grief, had run to the
police station at Belgrade and CleGrfeld
streets and told Sergeant Reeder of
Annies death and what her little
brother had said.
Lieutenant Clace was summoned
from his supper table. A hurried con-
ference was held at the station-housc,
and Sergeant Reeder and Patrolman
Theodore Flood were detailed to arrest
Katie McClennon and her daughter
Florence.
Mrs. McClennon since she left her
husband has been living with man
named POLICE in q little house on Jasper
street near Elizabeth, about five squares
from the Niblicks. There the officers
went and there they found her. She
paled when told she was under arrest,
and wanted to know what for. They
took her and Florence to the station
house, where they were closeted with
the lieutenant.
The woman is short and stout, with
snappy black eyes. The lieutenant
asked her where she was during the
afternoon, and she said: "At home"
She was told of the charge against her
and denied it, saying she had not been
to Niblick's. The child Florence was
silent.
The little boy was questioned again,
and stuck to his story that Mrs. Nc
Clennon did it, so she was locked up
and the coroner was notified.
Florence McClennon was seen at Mr..
Niblick's house during the afternoon by
the neighbors, and late last night it
was stated that some one had seen
Mrs McClennon enter the house short
" after dinner. Florence spent Tues
day evening at Mr.. Niblicks with An
ME. John Cassidy, sneighbor, says he
called at the house and saw both the
girls, the best of friends, playing the or
gan in the parlor.
William Raglan, boy Of eighteen
years, is John Niblick's stepson. He
said to Press reporter last night that
Katie McClennon had once threatened
to kill Mrs. Niblick before she died.
Since Mrs. Niblick's death the woman
had been calling at the house occasion
ally, where her daughter Florence was
a frequent visitor. Some think that
Katie McClennon, who was forty years
of age, wanted TO marry John Niblick.